Many people who call me about the fake check they got in the mail or the call they got about winning the lottery know they are scams. Others, though, don't and are hoping they've really hit it big. Sometimes it's hard to convince them they haven't and are just the latest target of heartless crooks.

The conversations almost always end on the same point — why can’t they catch the con artists behind these scams?

The answer is they can, as I explained in today's Watchdog column. But it's not as easy as nabbing shoplifters and other thieves because many of the devils behind these scams are hiding outside the U.S. Authorities must work with authorities in other countries, and follow their laws, to bring these hoodlums to justice.

But it can be done. Anthony Oluwole Ojo was nabbed in Canada and faces trial in Philadelphia this spring. (Download Ojo complaint). Federal authorities in California successfully prosecuted a Canadian lottery scammer, Henry Anekwu, last year.

In November, the feds in New York announced they'd extradited seven people from Israel to face charges related to a lottery telemarketing scam that stole about $2 million from elderly Americans.

Why am I telling you this? To give you some hope that authorities aren't ignoring what's going on, and to encourage you not to ignore these scam attempts, either. Report them.